December 12th through 15th, 2023: Heavy Rain in the eastern Panhandles, Snow in the Northern Panhandles

Overview

An upper level low pressure system moved over southern California and then Arizona by Wednesday afternoon, 13th December. With decent mid level lift ahead of the system across the southern High Plains, along with good moisture transport from the eastern Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico, several rounds of rain occurred across the combined Panhandles on the 13th and again on the 14th. During the early AM hours Thursday morning (12/14), the NW Panhandles changed over to snow where 2-4" occurred before noon on the 14th. During the afternoon much of the northwest as well as the central Oklahoma Panhandle saw light precipitation that periodically changed back into snow or a rain/snow mix. However, surface temperatures just above freezing had the snow melting on contact, especially on pavement. Rain persisted in the eastern combined Panhandles throughout the day on Thursday the 14th, with some isolated thunderstorms developing over the central Texas Panhandle during the afternoon.  As the center of the upper level low pressure system passed over the northern combined Panhandles Thursday night into early Friday morning, wrap around moisture met with colder overnight temperatures allowing for a band of snow to accumulate across the north central and northeastern combined OK/ TX Panhandles. This light band of snow that developed on the backside of the departing low brought 1-2" of snowfall reaching from Stratford TX ENE towards Beaver, OK. As soon as the sun came up and the rest of the clouds exited the area, the accumulated snow across the north central and northeastern combined Panhandles melted quickly with warm temperatures and the nature of the wet heavy snow. 

Precipitation totals across the Panhandles ranged from just under an inch to just over 5" for portions of the SE TX Panhandle. Snowfall ratios were 4-5:1, where heavy wet snow occurred which did impose some minor impacts to travel in the NW Panhandles. Overall this was an abnormally wet system for a Panhandle December, putting the majority of the area well above the December normal for liquid precipitation.

• Snow/Ice
• Radar and Photos
• Rainfall
• Environment

Snow/Ice

Map of estimated snowfall across the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles from December 12th, 2023 through December 15th, 2023 using ground reports.

 

Location	Snowfall	Source
Texline	4	COOP
6.1 E Kenton	4	CoCoRaHs
Boise City	3.5	COOP
12.1 S Kenton	3.3	CoCoRaHs
Kenton	3	Public
9 NW Waka	2	Public
Perryton	2	Public
1 N Gruver	2	Public
Gruver	2	Public
Beaver	2	Public
Guymon	1	Public
Spearman	1	Public
1 NNW Farnsworth	0.8	Public
Amarillo	0	Public

---

Radar and Photos

 

Composite radar reflectivity through the event. Radar data from NWS; visualization from Iowa Environmental Mesonet

Snow west of Perryton (Vicki Gaines Gurley)	Three inches of rain measured in Guymon (Tim Brittain)	Snow in Balko (Sherry Parker)	More than 2 and a half inches in Perryton (Aaron Moore)

 

---

Rain Reports

 

Map of estimated rainfall across the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles from December 12th, 2023 through December 15th, 2023 using rain gauge reports and radar estimates.

 

Location	County	Type	Rainfall
Jericho	Gray	COOP	5.17
Clarendon 2 WSW	Donley	WT Mesonet	4.94
Dozier 3 W	Collingsworth	WT Mesonet	4.9
McLean 1 E	Gray	WT Mesonet	4.61
Lake McClellan 2 NW	Gray	WT Mesonet	4.27
Palo Duro 4 E/JA Ranch	Armstrong	WT Mesonet	3.96
Wellington 6 SE	Collingsworth	WT Mesonet	3.75
Palo Duro Reservoir 1 NW	Hansford	WT Mesonet	3.69
Lipscomb 8 W	Lipscomb	WT Mesonet	3.45
Slapout 8 W	Beaver	OK Mesonet	3.44
Goodnight	Armstrong	WT Mesonet	3.44
Follett	Lipscomb	COOP	3.29
Gruver	Hansford	COOP	3.28
Beaver 1 SSW	Beaver	OK Mesonet	3.28
Miami 10 E	Hemphill	WT Mesonet	3.21
Borger 7 E	Hutchinson	WT Mesonet	3.17
Stinnett 1 NNW	Hutchinson	WT Mesonet	3.17
Hooker 1 W	Texas	OK Mesonet	3.14
Pampa	Gray	COOP	3.05
Glazier	Hemphill	COOP	3.01
Pantex 1 ESE	Carson	WT Mesonet	2.93
Pampa 2 E	Gray	WT Mesonet	2.83
Turpin 6.1 SSE	Beaver	CoCoRaHs	2.82
Turpin 5.2 S	Beaver	CoCoRaHs	2.82
Goodwell 2 E	Texas	OK Mesonet	2.8
Borger	Hutchinson	ASOS	2.74
Hemphill SE	Hemphill	COOP	2.73
Canadian 6 E	Hemphill	WT Mesonet	2.72
Sunray 9 NNE	Sherman	WT Mesonet	2.69
Borger 0.7 NNE	Hutchinson	CoCoRaHs	2.66
Sanford Dam	Hutchinson	COOP	2.57
Guymon	Texas	ASOS	2.54
Dumas 3 SE	Moore	WT Mesonet	2.5
Panhandle 1 SSW	Carson	WT Mesonet	2.46
Claude 12 SW/North Rim PDC	Armstrong	WT Mesonet	2.27
Fritch 1 WNW	Moore	WT Mesonet	2.18
Palo Duro Canyon SP Floor	Randall PDC	WT Mesonet	2.01
Amarillo 15 NNW	Potter	WT Mesonet	1.9
Palo Duro Canyon SP Rim	Randall	WT Mesonet	1.86
Boys Ranch 1 WSW	Oldham	WT Mesonet	1.57
Eva 12 NE	Texas	OK Mesonet	1.55
Stratford 4 WNW	Sherman	WT Mesonet	1.54
Pantex 4 WSW	Carson	WT Mesonet	1.53
Boys Ranch	Oldham	COOP	1.38
Amarillo 9 NNE	Potter	WT Mesonet	1.31
Umbarger 3 NNE	Randall	WT Mesonet	1.29
Texline 2 N	Dallam	WT Mesonet	1.23
Amarillo	Potter	ASOS	1.22
AMA WFO	Potter	COOP	1.22
Bushland 1 WSW	Potter	COOP	1.15
Dalhart 2 SE	Hartley	COOP	1.14
Dalhart	Hartley	ASOS	1.11
Amarillo 7 SSE	Randall	WT Mesonet	1.07
Amarillo 10.0 W	Potter	CoCoRaHs	1.07
Texline	Dallam	COOP	1.05
Amarillo 5.9 WSW	Potter	CoCoRaHs	1.02
Keyes 10.3 NE	Cimarron	CoCoRaHs	1
Boise City 3 SSE	Cimarron	OK Mesonet	0.97
Romero 11 SSW/Bravo Ranch	Oldham	WT Mesonet	0.93
Canyon 1W	Randall	WT Mesonet	0.93
Hereford 2 NW	Deaf Smith	WT Mesonet	0.89
Vega 4 E	Oldham	WT Mesonet	0.89
Hereford 1.1 N	Deaf Smith	CoCoRaHs	0.88
Hereford 2.4 ENE	Deaf Smith	CoCoRaHs	0.87
Bootleg 11 WNW	Deaf Smith	WT Mesonet	0.86
Canyon 4.2 NNE	Randall	CoCoRaHs	0.86
Kenton 12.1 S	Cimarron	CoCoRaHs	0.79
Kenton 5 SE	Cimarron	OK Mesonet	0.74
Adrian 6WSW	Oldham	WT Mesonet	0.74

 

---

Environment

 

Figure 1: A 4 panel look at objective analyses of weather balloon data from the event. Top left is a 300mb chart, top right is a 500mb chart, bottom left is a 700mb chart, and bottom right is a 850mb chart. In the 300/500mb panels, we see a deep but slowly progressing upper trough - multiple disturbances would eject northeastward around this and lead to multiple rounds of rainfall. The green contours in the 700/850mb charts show the deep moisture that was pulled northward from the Gulf of Mexico ahead of the upper trough.

 

 

Figure 2: Morning weather balloon launch on December 13th, 2023 showing deep moisture through the troposphere.	Figure 3: Loop of precipitable water, a measure of available moisture through the atmosphere, and 850mb winds through the event, showing rich moisture being pulled northwestward from the Gulf of Mexico. Amounts were over 0.5" through the event, which only occurs about 10 percent of the time during mid December.

Satellite loops of the system:

Visible satellite loop of the storm system as it shifted east of the Panhandles. Snow is visible as the stationary white returns on the ground after the clouds depart.

 

Visible satellite during the height of the rain event on December 14th, 2023. Showers and a few thunderstorms are widespread across the Panhandles. Images courtesy of CSU/CIRA.

---